Many people look forward to Thanksgiving, but let’s face it, there is a lot of stress involved in the holiday as well. That is especially true if you are the one responsible for preparing a meal for dozens of people. Rather than getting stressed out this year, why not relieve some pressure and take advantage of this awesome hack?
The best way to save time and have a stress-free Thanksgiving is to prepare as many dishes as possible in advance. If you leave everything until Thanksgiving morning, you will be overwhelmed with responsibilities.
Admittedly, there are dishes you can’t prepare in advance, such as the Thanksgiving bird. Other meals, however, including desserts, can be made in advance to relieve you of that last-minute responsibility.
Perhaps one of the easiest things to make for Thanksgiving in advance is pie. After making them, you can package them properly and they will stay good for weeks at a time. Using the following method allows you to keep pecan pie fresh for months.
1. Buy a premade crust and pour pecan pie filling into it.
2. Put it in the freezer for up to 15 minutes to harden.
3. Take the pie out of the freezer and wrap it in a layer of plastic wrap and then overwrap it with tin foil tightly.
4. You can freeze the pie for up to a month.
5. Remove the pie on Thanksgiving day and cook it as normal. Just make sure that you bake the pie for an additional 30 minutes over what the recipe calls for.
It may seem a little out of the ordinary to prepare Thanksgiving food a month in advance, but you are going to be patting yourself on the back when turkey day arrives. You still have the turkey, mashed potatoes, and dressing to worry about, but dessert is already in the bag.
You may want to think twice about using this technique on all types of pie. For example, pumpkin pie is not going to keep as long and it may take on a strange consistency after freezing.
Find out more in the following video: